(AUTHOR’S NOTE:
This is NOT a history of early post-WWII racing in Richmond, Virginia. Rather, it is a compilation of some of the more interesting stories and happenings from that period, at least in my opinion. I present it in part so you can read about how things were run 70 years ago and decide whether there are lessons here for those currently in charge.)
Part I – The 1940s
Most fans of Richmond racing – at least those who value the city’s racing history – know that Ted Horn won a “Big Car” race at the Atlantic Rural Exposition fairgrounds (location of today’s Richmond Raceway) on October 12, 1946, and they know that it was the first race run on the old dirt half-miler that predated today’s facility.
What they probably don’t know is that it was only the 10th race run in Richmond that year, the first opportunity for racing after WWII. On Labor Day, stock cars ran on the old fairgrounds track (where Richmond’s baseball park sits today), presented by a pre-NASCAR Bill France, no less, but racing had begun in mid-August at Richmond City Stadium, the in-town football field, which promoters Red Crise and Bob Streeter putting shows for the then-wildly popular midgets. Eight programs were run at the stadium that year, but there would have been more, had Richmond race fans behaved themselves.
At a big race the Wednesday after Labor Day, a huge crowd of 12,000 jammed the stadium, but at least 1,000 of them had gotten in without paying. That prompted the promoters to say they would end the season on October 2, not at the end of October as previously planned.
Nevertheless, they were back the next year, and nevertheless, the fans kept doing their best to watch for free: in early May 1947, about 2,000 fans took down a fence and avoided the ticket-takers.
Those stories just don’t get in the books like the track championships.
Actually, the City Stadium racing in 1947 had to fight for news coverage space with the courtroom battles between the city and stadium neighbors, who wanted to shut down the midget shows. Today, most stories of government-vs.-race track don’t have both on the same side, but back then, the city was all for keeping the races going, because they were bringing in far more revenue than anything else being booked in the stadium. Every complaint the neighbor would make, the city would say it couldn’t enforce. Finally, the city told the neighbors to take it to court. They did.
In September, within hours of the biggest crowd of the year filling the stadium, a judge ruled that the noise ordinance violation meant stadium racing had to stop, although he allowed the ’47 season to conclude as planned. On October 1, the final City Stadium midget race was run.
That led to 1948, one of the most chaotic years in Richmond racing.
Once the Virginia Supreme Court upheld the previous September’s court decision ending midget racing at City Stadium, former partners Crise and Streeter each sought a new venue where he alone would run the show. Crise initially appeared to be the winner, signing an agreement to run weekly midgets at the fairgrounds, which even installed permanent lighting so the Wednesday night schedule could continue.
As a good promoter, Crise had a problem with the track’s lack of a formal name. It was known as the Atlantic Rural Exposition fairgrounds track, or just Strawberry Hill, the name of the farm that predated the fair. Crise christened the track Atlantic Speedway, a great name that would last only a couple of months.
The lights weren’t ready soon enough for Crise, though, so the first weekly midget race at the fairgrounds was run on Sunday, May 2. It turned out to be an unofficial twin feature: a few hours after the checkered flag was thrown at Strawberry Hill, a different flag was thrown on Chamberlayne Avenue in Richmond, where police stopped Crise and racer William Randall for drag racing on the city street (50 mph in a 25 zone, evidently). (The news article says Randall was the race winner, but other race results disagree.)
Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that midget racing fans weren’t responding well to the larger track and the distance between the grandstand and the racing surface. Crise abruptly called off racing until the fairgrounds moved bleachers closer to the track. The fairgrounds refused to spend more money, Crise stood his ground, and the fairgrounds fired him.
Prominent racing journalist Don O’Reilly was brought in to promote, but after a struggle with one sanctioning body and a rainout, he switched from midgets to “roadsters” (stripped-down, hopped-up stock cars), with disastrous financial results. He quit. A local driver and car owner was brought in to promote, but he was unable to organize a single race.
Part of the reason for the last failure was the opening of Royall Speedway, built by Richmonder Nelson Royall in partnership with Bob Streeter. On July 21, the one-fifth mile paved track opened, and the midgets had a new home.
Back in the middle of all that was a week that should be remembered for having multiple memorable races. On Sunday, May 16, the first NASCAR race to be run in Richmond was held at the “new” fairgrounds, with Red Byron winning the contest for modified stock cars. On Wednesday, May 19, Shorty McAndrews won the midget race that was the first held under the new fairgrounds lights. Finally, on Saturday, May 22, Ted Horn won a Big Car race that seems to have been the last auto race held on the old fairgrounds track.
Back to the midgets: within two years, after all the drama, the midgets would be replaced by stock cars as the focal point of Richmond racing. First, however, in 1949, there was one more effort at having weekly racing at the fairgrounds.
With Royall the weekly home of midgets, Sam Nunis, who had been promoting the Big Car races at the fairgrounds during the State Fair since 1946, brought in the New Jersey-based American Stock Car Racing Association for several early season events, then announced early in June that those races would become weekly with the first race on Friday, June 10.
That race kicked off – and ended – the last effort at weekly racing at the fairgrounds. The earlier races evidently had been successful, but the June 10 event only drew 500 fans, and when the drivers realized that, (1) the crowd hadn’t brought in enough money to pay the purse; (2) Sam Nunis was not on site, and (3) Nunis’s assistant had no funds to supplement the gate come payoff time, they pulled off the track after the heats and prepared to leave.
Nunis’s assistant reached his boss by phone, but Sam was unable to sway the drivers to accept a delayed payoff; they said he already owed them money. One driver got on the PA to tell the crowd of the cancellation, and although Nunis’s man managed to cut off the sound once, the drivers found the power and restored it. The fans got their money back, and weekly racing at ARE was over.
(End of Part I, Part two later this week)
Frank Buhrman